Pavel Pogrebnyak was not so wasteful in the 29th minute. Stephen Kelly crossed from the right and Pogrebnyak rose alone to power home a header.

Eleven minutes later, McCleary found Nathaniel Chalobah on the break and the Chelsea loanee thundered in a half-volley from the edge of the area for his first Reading goal.

Wednesday’s Lewis Baker tried his luck from 20 yards but Federici was up to task and the Owls showed more intent after the interval but were let down by slack approach work. They could have gone 3-0 down when Jeremy Helan brought down Pogrebnyak but Westwood saved Robson-Kanu’s weak spot kick.